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Filing for March 2014 primary election is under way

Nov. 28, 2014

By Bob Balgemann

BELVIDERE - Six Boone County Board members drew two-year terms during the re-organizational process that followed the November 2012 election.

That means District 1 board members Brad Fidder and Bill Pysson; District 2 board members Karl Johnson and Ron Wait; and District 3 board members Kenny Freeman and Marion Thornberry will be expiring in 2014.

In addition Chris Berner, appointed earlier this year to replace District 3 board member Mike Schultz, who resigned, also has to run next year.

Candidates began filing their nominating paperwork on Monday, Nov. 25. They may continue to do so through Tuesday, Dec. 2.

Five of the seven county board members - Pysson, Johnson, Wait, Thornberry and Berner - said they would be seeking their party's nomination in the March 2014 primary election. Fidder and Freeman were undecided going into filing week.

All are Republicans except Pysson, who is a Democrat. The only other Democrat on the 12-member board, Craig Schultz in District 3, drew a four-year term.

The general election will be in November, during which the state also will elect a governor.

County Clerk Mary Steurer said there will be other opportunities for people to run for the county board.

Democrats and Republicans may caucus following the primary election and select candidates to run in November. Independent candidates also may file after the primary.

In addition, a number of appointments will be in the offing during 2014.

Among them are all the members of the Capron Rescue Squad District Board of Trustees. Included are the board president, Owen Costanza, vice president Martha Suhr, secretary Bob Sager, treasurer Neeley Erickson and member Mike Petersen. All but Sager are relatively new members of the board.

In addition, terms of county board of health members Wait, Dr. Anthony D'Souza and Dan Lendman, DVM, will be up for reappointment. Wait, who's also on the county board, was appointed two years ago as a voting member of the health board and to serve as the county board's liaison to the health department.

And the terms of one member of each of the five fire districts will be expiring.

County board Chairman Bob Walberg will make the appointments, with concurrence from the county board.

No school board members, village trustees, village presidents or city of Belvidere aldermen are up for election next year.

 

Caledonia celebrates arrival of new warning siren

Nov. 28, 2014

By Bob Balgemann

CALEDONIA - Three years ago a late-season tornado swept through this northern Boone County village, destroying several homes, electric poles and large storage bins.

As Village President Rod Fritz put it, "By the grace of God no one was injured."

Contrast that with the tornado that struck the city of Belvidere April 21, 1967, killing 24 people, 17 of them children.

Resident Alice Van Brocklin knows all about both storms.

Her 13 1/2-year-old sister was one of the 17 children, seven of them from Caledonia, who died in the 1967 storm. Her home and barn on Caledonia Road were destroyed by the November 2010 tornado.

"Better not be a third one," she said during a special celebration held Saturday (Nov. 23) at the North Boone Fire District 3 station in Caledonia. Purpose of the get-together was to celebrate the arrival, and erection, of a new storm warning siren next to the station.

Van Brocklin's house was the first one hit by the 2910 tornado. And she was the first one to appear before the Caledonia Village Board, saying there was a need for a tornado siren.

"There wasn't much warning" ahead of the 2010 strike, Fritz said.

Van Brocklin didn't stop with one visit. She kept coming back and Fritz remembered her being told time after time that the village was working on it.

She started a fund

Not happy with the lack of progress, she established a siren fund and made what the village president said was a generous donation.

"She gave the village board a kick in the butt," he said. "That was needed to get us going."

And so a warning siren has been erected. It got its first live test the morning of Nov. 17, when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for northern Boone County.

That day 68 tornadoes were reported at various locations around Illinois, with six deaths and 37 injuries. North Boone Fire District 3 sent a trailer full of supplies to downstate Washington, one of the hardest-hit communities in the state.

"We appreciate Alice and all she's done," Fritz said. A standing ovation followed.

Van Brocklin didn't have much to say. She just hoped that when people hear the siren in the future that they will never become complacent and just continue going about their business.

Fritz put in a pitch for the fund-raising drive, which is ongoing. "We're $5,000 short of our $20,000 goal," he said, holding a rectangular sign with the names of donors to this point.

That sign will be attached to the tower holding the siren and he said another sign can be made, with more names.

The sign contains Alice Van Brocklin's name along with Gordon and Doris Nelson, Randy and Sandra Stockwell, Caledonia Township, Caledonia Congregational Church, Village Attorney Tom Green and Fire District 3.

The township building, across the street from the fire station, was destroyed by the tornado but the fire district building wasn't touched. It has been rebuilt, as has Van Brocklin's home.

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